Back in the Netherlands our plan was to drive into Yosemite using the the Tioga pass, the highest automobile pass in California, but some study taught us that this pass is often closed due to snowfall during the winter months.
That's why we changed the route and decided to drive into Yosemite using the South Entrance.

Oakhurst is about 15 miles from the South Entrance. When we drove up to the entrance the road was steep and winding. The Landscape of Yosemite is a bit like the landscape we know in the South of Europe, so it was not as interesting as most other National Parks we had visited.

It took about an hour to get into the Valley Visitor Center and when we checked out the museum we decided to walk the trail up to the Mirror Lake.
Although Yosemite is a very big park there aren't many walking trails. If you want to see a lot you really need to drive, unfortunately during the winter months most roads are closed.

We had a lot of fun and it took us more than an hour to get to the Mirror Lake, which is actually quite disappointing. At the Lake Side (a small lake) we had some lunch and after a while we headed back to the car. It was a very sunny day and I found it all very relaxing.

It was still quite early when we drove back to the hotel. In some way Yosemite was not what we expected. Yosemite is maybe too big to enjoy in one day and the landscape is very beautiful, but too European. I have seen so much like this in France and Austria. Perhaps we have seen too many National Parks on this holiday. I know I am glad we're heading to San Francisco, enough National Parks for me.

Yosemite is indeed the last National Park of our trip. Looking back we enjoyed all parks, but Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon and Capitol Reef National Park are the winners in my opinion. Don't forget we visited all these parks in March and April, possibly the parks look quite different in other months.

Back in the hotel we had a little swim before taking a shower. We didn't feel like having dinner in a restaurant again so we decided to go to Burger King. The waiters were very friendly and this was the first fast food restaurant with free-refill drinks. After a while we decided to go to Mac Donald's for our favorite Sundae ice-cream.

Altogether we had a very pleasant and relaxed day, it felt a bit like at the end of a holiday. In some way it is the end, this was the last National park we had planned. There will be so much to see during the next few days. What do you think of San Francisco, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles? Just click the "next day" button to read more.

 Previous day | Next day